3rd-string QB Skylar Thompson has rough baptism as Miami Dolphins fall hard, 40-17, at Jets | Opinion

Once upon a time, well, OK, it was only a couple of months, Skylar Thompson was the talk of Miami. Remember?

He was Mr, August! The Dolphins’ little-known seventh-round rookie draft pick out of Kansas State was the best quarterback in the NFL back when the games didn’t count. Tore through the preseason like he had no doubt he knew what he was doing with five touchdown passes and zero interceptions.

He was facing the other teams’ third-string defenses, sure. But still!

Then came Sunday.

Welcome to the real NFL, rookie.

He was far from alone in his embarrassment, though. Had all his teammates with him.

The Dolphins lost on the road, 40-17. To the New York Jets. A team Miami had beaten eight of the past nine times. The stinkin’ Jets.

The Jets had trailed in a 22 consecutive games, a league-high by a lot, before never trailing Sunday.

Thompson was playing because Tua Tagovailoa was back in Miami nursing a concussion. And because backup Teddy Bridgewater, starting in place of Tua, saw his day end after one play and may also now have a concussion.

The emergency QB was receiver Cedrick Wilson, who last threw a pass in high school.

So in came Thompson, his baptism not the stuff of daydreams. He completed 19 of 33 passes for 168 yards with zero TDs, one interception and a lost fumble at his own 5-yard line.

“It starts with me,” said the kid, owning up.

The Dolphins were having a party though, if misery loves company.

The defense wasn’t very good.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to right that ship,” coach Mike McDaniel said.

The special teams continued to stink, too. There was a season high in penalties. Missed tackles galore. All-around badness.

And now the Dolphins — once 3-0 and the darling of the league — are now 3-2 with their two top quarterbacks waiting to be told their brains are OK to play in a game.

Early thinking is that Bridgewater, at least, will be available for next week. He passed concussion protocols on Sunday but evidently was kept out due to recently toughened concussion cautions put in place because of the way Miami handled the Tagovailoa situation. (Even though the NFL ruled the Dolphins followed concussion protocols properly with Tua.)

Over on the college side of town the Miami Hurricanes opened the season 2-0 and now are 2-3.

Those honeymoons just fly by, am I right Mike McDaniel and Mario Cristobal! Couple of first-year head coaches take Miami by storm and now find themselves taking cover.

The game began for Miami with calamity so epic is was almost comical. I’d trot out a Keystone Cops reference if I thought there were more readers as old as me who might get it.

Bridgewater’s day lasted approximately five seconds. He started ... and finished after one snap. He was hit by a safety blitz as he threw from his end zone and was flagged for intentional grounding, meaning a safety and an immediate 2-0 hole.

And Bridgewater was immediately gone with an elbow injury and possible concussion.

The Jets returned the ensuing punt 41 yards.

Then consecutive facemask penalties set up a Jets field goal and 5-0 score.

Then a 79-yard Jets catch and run through bad tackling set up a short TD run and made it a 12-0 score.

After Miami finally showed up on a Raheem Mostert 12-yard run to shave the deficit to 12-7, the rookie QB Thompson threw an interception.

That led to another Jets TD and a 19-7 hole.

At that point things could only have gone worse for Miami if coach McDaniel had gone up in flames on the sideline in a case of spontaneous combustion.

Miami would score again with seconds left in the first half when tight end Durham Smythe took a direct snap from the 1 on a trick play and bulled in — the Jets completely fooled in part of the play-acting of Thompson, who was motioning to the sideline as if confused by it all.

That the Dolphins trailed only 19-14 after the first half seemed a small miracle.

A third-string quarterback, both starting cornerbacks out injured, left tackle Terron Armstead gone early with a toe injury, a fast 12-0 hole on the road — yet here the Fins were. In it.

When Miami was within 19-17 entering the fourth quarter, it seemed there might be a feel-good story, after all.

“Third-string QB rallies Dolphins on road.”

After all, Miami already this season had won with fourth-quarter comebacks against the Bills and Ravens. And these were just the Jets.

It was a 21-0 avalanche in the fourth quarter.

Skylar Thompson had August. He may yet have a nice career.

But the Dolphins on Sunday could survive either him nor any of the other sloppiness that promised an excruciatingly long flight home.